PETERBOROUGH, N.H. (AP) – A New Hampshire National Guard unit got a big “thank you” this weekend for its service in Afghanistan.

The 210th Engineer Detachment was in Afghanistan for a year. Saturday, friends, neighbors and guard officials gathered in Peterborough to recognize the service.

Rep. Charles Bass said the people of Afghanistan, and democracy, benefited from the unit’s work.

Spouses and employers also were recognized at the ceremony.

Spc. Justin Spaulding of Bow says what he remembers best was helping kids, by doing things like building schools and bringing them clothes.

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Trail Damage

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GILFORD, N.H. (AP) – A Lakes Region snowmobile club is offering a reward to find vandals who have destroyed gates designed to protect its trails from four-wheel-drive trucks.

The steel gates have been torn from the ground, cut with blow torches, and in some cases stolen.

Dave Glazier of the Belknap Snowmobilers’ Club said the trucks have gouged the trails and ruined snowmobile bridges. Glazier said the damage wrecks the trails for mountain bikers, hikers, hunters and others.

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Claremont Drugs

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CLAREMONT, N.H. (AP) – Police have arrested 14 people in a major drug crackdown.

Police Chief Alex Scott said Operation Spring Cleaning also brought in more than $10,000 in drugs, including crack cocaine and methadone. He said the arrests probably would put a damper on the drug trade in Claremont for a few months.

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Oldest patent lawyer receives honorary degree

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – Franklin Pierce Law Center, which is known for its patent law program, has awarded an honorary degree to the nation’s oldest patent lawyer.

Yardley Chittick is 104 years old and lives at a retirement community in Concord.

Chittick interviewed with Thomas Edison for a job in 1925, taking an 18-page test about everything from the Roman Empire to poker strategy and crop rotation. Edison offered him a position, but he turned it down to work for a golf club manufacturer.

Chittick helped the plant secure patents for improvements to golf clubs, working with a patent lawyer in New York. When the Depression brought major plant layoffs, he decided to go to law school and become a patent lawyer himself.

He helped about 100 inventors secure patents. He retired for good 20 years ago, and still plays golf.

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – An ice cream man charged with propositioning a teenage boy for sex was arrested again during the weekend on charges of violating his bail.

Gary Brown, 34, of Pembroke was ordered to stay away from anyone younger than 18 when he was released on $25,000 bail Friday. But police say that Saturday afternoon, he was spotted talking with three teenagers in the parking lot of the Concord Wal-Mart.

Brown is charged with offering a 14-year-old customer in Allenstown money for sex.

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Dartmouth Medical-Fundraising

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LEBANON, N.H. (AP) – Dartmouth Medical School and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center hope to raise $250 million in a capital campaign.

Trustees of the medical school and hospital said the money will be used for research and scholarship, to attract and retain top faculty, doctors and staff, and to provide facilities for the hospital’s growth.

The fund-raising effort was formally announced Saturday, but both institutions began accepting gifts in July 2002. The trustees said they had already received commitments for nearly $91 million. The campaign will run through 2009.

AP-ES-05-22-05 1138EDT